Okay, here's another chapter of Savage. I don't have a whole lot else to say here, other then that the Zanpakuto Rebellion arc is fast coming to an end. Oh, and the changes that have been more prominent in this arc will similarly be true in the Arrancar arc and beyond because I much prefer writing things where I have more control of the events and the order in which they occur. Plus, that way I can put in cliffhangers.

As for the whole love-triangle that's going on at the moment, that's going to be resolved a couple of chapters from now, I'm afraid that romance isn't going to play much (if any) of a part in this chapter and the next.

Byakuya isn't weak in this story, he just happened to have a vicious fight with Senbonzakura that I don't want to write, and that leaving out does no damage to the story in my opinion. That means that, unlike in the Anime, he is going to be soundly defeated Kouga simply because he doesn't have the energy to fight with anything near full strength.

I feel like someone'll complain about there being no description of Kouga; that'll come next chapter.

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please let me know!

-()()()-

Ichigo's suspicion that he was needed somewhere else continued to bug him for the hour that he spent Flash-Stepping across the Seiretei in search of the remaining Zanpakuto. He ignored it, however, as he found half a dozen of the enemies; none of whom put up enough of a fight that he needed to release one of his Zanpakuto, and subdued them before carting the Sword-Spirits back to the Fourth's barracks to await their wielders to reclaim their Zanpakuto. Ichigo was setting out on his seventh trip when he found out that it was more than just a feeling, as a black butterfly appeared, hovering, before him. The human-Shinigami blinked once at it before holding a finer out in offer of a perch; the Hell-butterfly landed, and a familiar tone was relayed to the substitute.

"Kurosaki-san!" Urahara Kisuke's voice reached him. "How are you on this fine day?" Ichigo scowled; why bother asking, when it was a wholly one-sided conversation. "I am fine, thank you for asking. Stop scowling at me, everyone has to exchange pleasantries, it's only polite!" Ichigo's scowl deepened, and he was about to dismiss the insect when the voice carried on. With a sigh, he decided that he ought to listen to the message in its entirety so that he could properly justify punching the hat-wearer in the face when he returned to the Human World, and to know how much of a beating Kisuke deserved.

"Now that our pleasantries, or at least mine, since you're too insolent to return them, are out of the way, we may get down to business. As you know, there is currently a rebellion taking place, in which the Zanpakuto spirits have expressed their unhappiness with their wielders. Thankfully, my Benehime has not succumb to the control of Muramasa, though she has told me that she felt a slight pull only a few hours hence." Ichigo was gritting his teeth, as he waited for the man to get to the point because, at the moment, he could not see one, and Urahara had a remarkable talent for annoying the substitute. "Of course, this pull compelled me to investigate, as I wondered whether it meant that the instigator of the rebellion had travelled to the Human World. And, if he had, what possible reason he would have to do so. Unfortunately, your friends had also sensed something was amiss, and had gone after Muramasa," Ichigo was suspicious of this, as his eyes narrowed at the butterfly. He had a feeling that Urahara may have sent his friends into the fray, for reasons known only to Kisuke, but that just meant that he'd receive an ass-kicking once Ichigo returned to the Human World.

"Muramasa displayed some remarkable abilities during the time I was able to perform any reconnaissance, and I bore witness to him summoning Hollows! I would very much like to know how he does such a thing, as it is unlike any Zanpakuto ability that I have ever heard, but I am afraid that I had to leave before I could see any more than Muramasa approaching a large, strange tree while your friends were forced to do battle with the Hollows that he summoned." Ichigo was not too bothered by the idea of his friends fighting Hollows, as he was certain they could handle any number of ordinary Hollows without trouble. "At the same time, Byakuya Kuchiki began to do battle with his own Zanpakuto. I do not know the details, I am afraid, but he found something significant in the sight of aforementioned tree and made an attempt to stop Muramasa, only to be intercepted by Senbonzakura who abandoned his task in preoccupying your friends. The fight did not seem to be going well for Kuchiki-taicho when I left.

"Oh! You must be wondering why I did not stay to help! I sensed disharmony in Benehime, and rightly suspected that she may have been being influenced by Muramasa. I am afraid, Kurosaki-san, that Benehime may have killed your friends if I had stayed, as she later revealed that that was exactly what was occurring. Anyway, I thought that you may have wanted to know of the situation as it is occurring in Karakura town." The man said that as if it was the final piece of information, and Ichigo prepared to head to the Senkaimon when the man continued, in a tone that strongly suggested it was an afterthought. "Oh, and quite a few of the Hollows are Menos Grande, just to let you know."

Ichigo snarled. Of course they were higher level Hollows. His friends would be able to handle a few Menos, of course, but a group of them meant that there would be a good number of Ceros. Ceros that Ichigo did not know for sure they would be able to avoid. Ichigo regretted the fact that he had never seen the strength of Orihime's shield at that moment, and that he had no idea how fast Chad and Orihime were. On top of that, he did not know how much damage Senbonzakura would have done to Ichigo's friends before his fight with Byakuya began, and his worry only increased.

"Oh, I am going to kill Kisuke." He growled, and Shunpoed over to the only method of transport he would be able to use in order to intervene. At least for the moment.

-()()()-

"Hado #33, Soukatsui!" Rukia Kuchiki cried, and fired a bolt of blue energy at the nearest Menos, with a gasp. She really wished that she could have retrieved her Zanpakuto before this. If only Muramasa had not intervened at the end of the duel between wielder and Zanpakuto, then this fight would be a whole lot easier. With Sode no Shirayuki, Rukia would not be depleting her energy so quickly; she needed to send at least one Soukatsui at each Menos, and even that was not enough to ensure their masks would break. It was tiring, and Rukia's movements were becoming more and more sluggish as her Reiryoku reserves were being drained quite a bit faster than they could replenish.

That explained why, as one charged a Cero in its now-open mouth, Rukia's Shunpo was significantly slower than ordinary. She still evaded the Hollow attack, but stumbled at the force the subsequent explosion hit her with. Then, she raised her hand again, with ragged breath and launched another of the attacks at the inside of the Hollow's maw. She could purify this one even if the power of her Kido fell somewhat.

"Hado #33, Soukatsui!" After the attack landed, Rukia risked a glance at her Nii-sama, and her brow crinkled with concern as she saw him make an attempt to block an incoming spear moments long before it was in range of his sword. It was almost as if his depth-perception had altered, Rukia realised, as her brother's shoulder was pierced by the spear, and Kouga Kuchiki, the master of Muramasa that had run his own Zanpakuto through with a sword, appeared in front of Byakuya and wrenched the weapon out of her brother's torso. Rukia swallowed her worry, and turned back to her own assigned task.

The sooner she could neutralise the threat of the Hollows, the sooner she could make some attempt at helping her older brother with his fight, not that Byakuya would want to receive help, nor was Rukia certain that she would be much help in her current condition if Byakuya was unable to defeat his opponent. Perhaps... perhaps she could send for help. Urahara was very powerful, and he was in Karakura even now. He might be a viable form of reinforcement. Or, better yet, she could call Ichigo for help. Unlike Kisuke, she was confident that Ichigo would answer her calls. If he could defeat Byakuya in his healthy state, then he would surely be able to defeat Kouga; Byakuya had gone into the fight badly hurt, after all, and that was the only reason her brother was losing. Rukia shook her head clear of these thoughts, realising that another high-level Hollow was about to fire its attack at her, and prepared to, again, Shunpo to safety.

"Getsuga Tenso!"

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," Rukia smiled slightly at the voice, as she murmured one of the sayings she'd picked up in the Human World. A crescent of blue energy eradicated the head of the Menos just about to fire, and Rukia was left staring at Ichigo, stood behind the Hollow as it dissolved into Reishi, stood with his dual-bladed Shikai in his hands. As always, he held the larger blade, heavily resembling a Khyber knife, in his right hand and the smaller, though still the length of his arm, in his left. On Ichigo's face was a concerned frown as he looked down at Rukia, who was breathing very heavily and had placed the tip of her sealed Zanpakuto against the ground to hold herself upright.

Rukia smiled up at him, in an attempt to reassure the Substitute, only for it to fall away in exchange for a look of panic as three of the Menos behind Ichigo's back charged Ceros. If he was taken by surprise by the attacks, there was no telling how much damage they could do.

"I-Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, her voice panic-stricken. "Behind you!"

Ichigo's concern gave way to a smirk as Rukia exclaimed her worry, and he rolled his eyes before hefting his Inner-Hollow's blade and holding it out to the side. Blue energy wrapped around it, and his arm, as he pumped some of his Reiryoku into the blade. It lit up in a brilliant glow just as the Hollows released their attacks with a roar that would, for most people, be terrifying. The strawberry-blonde hybrid spun in mid air, stood on his Reiatsu, and slashed the large Khyber knife horizontally as Hichigo cheered inside Ichigo's head.

"Getsuga Tenso." Ichigo grinned, as the attack lit up the sky with a massive crescent, and rocketed towards the three Hollows.

Rukia's eyes widened, as she saw that the attack was large enough to meet all three Ceros in the sky. The attacks struggled against each other for a moment, before all four erupted in an explosion of Reiatsu; she would have sworn that Ichigo's had done so first, purposefully, if she did not know ho much trouble Ichigo had controlling his Reiatsu. Rukia took a step back as the rush of air stung her eyes, and blinked away the sudden flow of water that came with the sting. In the space of that attack, Ichigo was gone and stood on the left of the furthest right of the three Menos Grande; his larger blade cocked back again and alight with Reishi.

From her place, Rukia did not hear Ichigo announce his attack again before the Getsuga Tensho leapt eagerly from his blade and cut through the first Hollow's head, mask and all, and charged towards the second even as the first Menos began to dissolve. The next fared no better, as it turned to face the attack. The crescent crashed into the mask, and shattered it with ease. Rukia swallowed, as she saw that the velocity did not seem to have slowed at all. The third Hollow actually managed to open its mouth in an attempt to charge a Cero before the attack bisected it's head, and it joined its fellows in rejoining the reincarnation pool. Rukia's jaw had fallen at some point in this attack, as Ichigo was standing nonchalantly as he sheathed the smaller of his blades by tucking it into the red sash at his waist.

Then, the shinigami girl became worried, and her mouth closed and set itself into a line of concern. Was it possible that the Getsuga would not stop before it managed to do damage to something of the Humans? Then, her amazement returned as Ichigo raised his left hand, fingers splayed, before clenching them into a fist. With this movement, the arc of energy that Rukia would have deemed uncontrollable slowed, sizzled, and faded away. Since when had he been able to do that?

"You okay, Rukia?" Ichigo asked, suddenly in front of her, and ran his eyes over her looking for injuries. The girl managed to nod in her current state, and Ichigo sighed. "That's good. What about the others? Chad? Innoue?"

"Y-Yes, they're fine." She nodded slowly. "Ah, I think. They're in the forest over there, but there were only a few low-level Hollows after them. I have faith in them to fight those off with relative ease."

"Yeah, I do too. I was only worried that they might've been facing Menos, or that maybe an Adjuchas had come through." Ichigo smiled at the answer, in relief, and then glanced over to the Menos that had now begun retreating. Obviously, they had some form of survival instinct that kicked in after seeing three of their fellows be decimated by a single attack "Hold on for a second, Midget. I'll give them an incentive to get out of here ASAP." Ichigo stepped forwards and raised both blades; running parallel to each other in a horizontal grip as Ichigo held them out to his right.

"Getsuga Datsu!" He swiped the blades across his body, and the enormous crescent of energy that was flung forwards quickly broke up into smaller projectiles. The bullets of Ichigo's Reiryoku shot towards the still-open Gargantas that the Menos were using for their retreat. Those that missed the Gargantas, and there were many as Ichigo did not bother to change any if the bullets' course, faded away soon after passing the tears. The Hollows wailed as good number met their targets, and the Gargantas slammed shut.

"That takes care of that." Ichigo nodded, and took Rukia's elbow before directing her to a tree and pushing her to the floor so that the girl would sit. "Now, where's Muramasa?" He asked.

"He's... injured." Rukia resisted the temptation to yawn, and then her violet eyes locked onto Ichigo's. "Nii-sama!"

"No..." Ichigo blinked. "I'm Ichigo." He corrected in a confused tone. "Do you have a concussion, Rukia?"

"No! Nii-sama's in trouble! He's fighting a traitorous Kuchiki, and he was already injured by Senbonzakura before his Zanpakuto joined forces with him!"

"Oh," Ichigo nodded, before shrugging and kneeling in front of Rukia. "Good for him. I'm more concerned about you than that bastard, though. Do you need me to call for a Fourth Division member? Or maybe go fetch Inoue?"

"I'm fine!" She attempted to shove Ichigo away, only to find she was unable to summon the strength. "Fine, I'm worn out after fighting so many Hollows without Sode no Shirayuki, but I'll recover soon enough! You have to help Nii-sama!"

"Why on earth would I help Byakuya? I've been searching for him to beat the living daylights out of the bastard all day." Ichigo said, looking baffled at the very idea.

"Please!" Rukia bypassed any argument she might give, and grabbed Ichigo by the arm with a weak grip. "Please help him! He's my only family, I can't... I can't let him die." She begged, while staring into his eyes. Ichigo sighed at the tactic, and scowled at his inevitable answer.

"Fine!" Ichigo relented. "But I'm still gonna kick his ass when we get back to the Soul Society!" He yelled at the girl that was forcing him to go help someone he really did not want to help, and then noticed that Rukia had fallen asleep as soon as he agreed; her breathing steady enough to reassure him that she was fine. "Tss. I'm not going to enjoy this." Ichigo commented.

'Nor will we, Ichigo,' Zangetsu answered. 'But a traitor to the Gotei 13 will not be likely to take our side in the upcoming war. It is a bad idea to allow a potential enemy to kill the Kuchiki captain. There is still a chance that he is an ally, after all. Not that I am suggesting you forgive him of the treachery he displayed in attacking you. I would recommend "putting a pin in it", as I believe humans say.'

'I agree, Ichigo. You should be patient. Byakuya is not going anywhere, but this traitor may be intending to escape. That cannot be allowed.'

'Fine. I guess that makes sense,' Ichigo nodded.

'Just hurry up and start cutting on someone!'

'Helpful as always, Hichigo.'

Ichigo took off in a burst of Shunpo, after checking that nothing was in the vicinity to threaten Rukia, headed for the island that he believed held Byakuya's Reiatsu signature. It was not far, fortunately, as the sight that greeted him let Ichigo know that his presence was urgently needed.

Byakuya had lost. That much was clear, even if the Captain himself was unwilling to give up his pride and admit such a thing, by the amount of blood that had stained the front of his badly torn-up Shihakusho and by the fact that Senbonzakura, in its sealed state, was shaking in his one handed grip; his left hand was hanging limp at his side, as he swayed ever so slightly. Kouga Kuchiki did not, however, seem in any rush to get on with finishing the Head of the Kuchiki clan off.

"You see? This is my power!" Ichigo turned his attention to the man, who was dressed in the rags of a Shihakusho, with half a mask covering his nose, and holding an odd spear-axe weapon that Ichigo could not recognise. Perhaps this was his Shikai?

'I do not believe so, Ichigo. I may be wrong, but I believe that this man must be Muramasa's wielder, or must have been before they were separated.' Old man Zangetsu commented on the situation at hand, with an odd tone to his voice that Ichigo did not have time to dwell on. Sympathy?

"I will return to the Soul Society, and will create a world in which I am accepted! Those with power RULE! You and the rest of your kind will LEARN THAT!" Ichigo frowned heavily at that, confused as he spotted Muramasa lying on the floor off to the side of the battle with a sword-wound in his stomach. "This is MY power! I am not a pathetic Soul Reaper that has to use his Zanpakuto as a CRUTCH!" Kouga Kuchiki announced, with a sadistic grin. "You will be the first of your order to die, but rest assured you will not be the la-"

"Hang on," Ichigo interrupted, as his grip tightened around the grips of his Zanpakuto. "I may have misunderstood," Ichigo tried his hardest to keep his voice steady, and was mostly successful. "But it sounded like you have discarded your Zanpakuto. I assume that that is Muramasa, who is grievously injured, right? Tell me you did not do that." The very notion of hurting your Zanpakuto when there was any other option abhorred Ichigo, and so his anger was barely restrained, and then only by sheer force of will.

"I did," Kouga sneered over at his Zanpakuto, and then turned back to the orange haired man that had addressed him. "I had no need for a Zanpakuto that could not hear my voice. He paid the price for betraying me, by not answering my calls when I needed him most." Kouga stopped talking, though he would have been inclined to rant, as Ichigo's aura changed.

Kouga stared at the newly appeared Shinigami as the power he could feel from him spiked, and brown eyes lit up in a blue blaze, burning with hate.

"Betraying you?" Ichigo snarled. "You accuse him of betraying you? He has spent an eternity searching for you; trying to rescue you, and you greet him with violence for his loyalty, and you accuse him of betraying you?!" His voice steadily rose in volume. "He is your Zanpakuto! He is a part of your SOUL, and you have KILLED HIM!" Ichigo's reiatsu, wild as ever as he stopped restraining it, flared and Kouga took a step back at the hate it contained.

"I did." Kouga's eyes narrowed. "And he deserved it. I do not need such a pathetic weapon."

And then Ichigo's Reiatsu snapped back to its restrained form as his hands shook, and the hybrid's voice lowered to no more than a whisper. Inside him, his Reiryoku was ready to be unleashed, in its full force, on Kouga Kuchiki; Ichigo was more ready to fight than he ever had been before. More willing to kill than he had ever been before.

"A weapon? You think of him as only a weapon? He is a part of your soul. You should be willing to die for him. Anybody that shows someone as despicable as you such loyalty deserves nothing less, and you will fulfill that duty here today. Zanpakuto and Wielder die side by side. He will not pass from this world alone."

"Kurosaki," Byakuya interrupted the conversation, in a hoarse voice. "This is my fight. Do not interfere." Ichigo turned a look of apathy on the man; one that resembled the indifferent mask that Byakuya had let slip at some point in the fight.

"I care nothing for your pride, Kuchiki. I hold you in contempt, and would happily kill you alongside your fellow traitor had Rukia not begged me to save you. Now," Ichigo vanished in a blur of Flash Step, and appeared behind Byakuya. The man was not fast enough to move before Ichigo's arm snaked around his neck, and he pulled Byakuya into a sleeper-hold. "Go to sleep, and shut the fuck up."

Kouga watched bemused as Byakuya struggled weakly for a moment, and then went limp. Ichigo stepped away and allowed the Kuchiki head to fall to the floor in a manner unbecoming of a noble as he landed, face first, in the mud. Ichigo hooked a foot under his torso and flipped Byakuya over with a motion so that he would not suffocate.

"Now for you," Ichigo said, and even Kouga was slightly unnerved by the grin that spread across his face. "I have one thing to thank you for, before I put you down like the dog you are. I thought this would be boring, but now it promises to be very fun." The hybrid hissed. "I will teach you the power of a Zanpakuto before you die. In your last moments, you will realise your mistake, and I will smile as I look down on your corpse. I love my Zanpakuto more than life itself, and that is why this is going to hurt.

"Bankai."

-()()()-

Yes, I'm a bastard.

Yes, it's unfair to leave the chapter there.

Yes, I am very amused.

If it's any consolation, the next chapter will be out in the next couple of days. (Hopefully tomorrow, but I can't say for sure.)